The Thrill of Rumors Aside, Clark Won't Return / First baseman is likely to stay in Texas

HAS IT really been five years since Will Clark left San Francisco and took his squeaky Louisiana drawl and golden left- handed bat to Texas? Darn near.

The five-year, $30 million contract that Clark signed with the Rangers after the 1993 season expires this winter, and The Thrill will be a free agent again. There have always been whispers that Clark might return to the Giants someday, but it was really just talk. In J.T. Snow, the Giants have a Gold Glover who is four years younger, although Clark is having a better year.

Clark never said anything to dispel talk of a San Francisco comeback, but now he is telling Texas writers that he would like to return to the Rangers.

"I don't think that would be unfair to say," he told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram last week. "I think that would be common sense. Why wouldn't I? I live here. I have a house here. I enjoy the Metroplex immensely, and I've got a lot of friends here. I think this ballclub has improved each year.

"I'm pretty realistic, though. I know that I can't control anything that's going to happen two months from now," Clark said. "They know my feelings. They know my sentiments. They know how much I love playing here and how much I love being a part of this organization."

Clark is hitting .301 with 16 homers and 78 RBIs, a great contract run helped by the fact he has stayed healthy all season, a rarity in his recent career.

Clark's fate may be tied to Mo Vaughn's. The Red Sox slugger will be one of the two or three top free agents available this winter, and the new Rangers ownership group might take a run at the big first baseman.

One thing is certain, the Rangers' clubhouse would be a far different place without Clark, who has become the team leader in Texas that he never was in San Francisco.

"It would be quieter," said Texas DH Lee Stevens, "but there probably would be a lot more stuff going on in here that shouldn't be going on." BOGGS BOGGED DOWN: Braves pitcher Dennis Martinez drew some criticism for hanging around at age 43 so he could break Juan Marichal's record of 243 wins by a Latin American pitcher. It looks like another great player might be in the same boat.

Tampa Bay third baseman Wade Boggs, one of the best pure hitters of this generation, is 112 hits shy of 3,000. But he is 40 years old, he has been hurt this year, and the Devil Rays would like rookie Bobby Smith to be their regular third baseman.

The Rays have an option on Boggs' contract for 1999, and it is questionable whether they will exercise it. That means Boggs might have to roam around the majors searching for a team that needs an aging backup third baseman.

"I'm not worried about it," Boggs said of his quest for 3,000. "It doesn't consume my daily thoughts. There's too much time left in this season to start worrying about next year. But I don't really think I've done anything to justify not coming back next year."

Of course, there is one difference between Boggs and Martinez. Boggs still has the ability to hit, with an average this year in the .280s. BABY STREAK: It passed with little notice, but when Houston's August 5 game at Miami ended with Craig Biggio in the on-deck circle as a potential pinch-hitter, the second baseman's streak of 494 consecutive games played ended.

"I'm not going to say I'm not a little upset about it," said Biggio, whose streak began on July 31, 1995. Said his manager, Larry Dierker, "The worst part for me is that we won't be able to get that back. It takes a long time to build a streak like that."

To think, Biggio needed just 14 more years of playing every day to catch Cal Ripken Jr.'s current mark. BIG UNIT STUFF: It was interesting to see Nolan Ryan sitting behind home plate at the Astrodome the other night watching Randy Johnson blow through the Milwaukee Brewers' lineup for his third straight win since the trade. Johnson credits a talk he had with Ryan as helping him tame his wildness as a young pitcher.

"It was very influential in working out the problems I had with the everyday grind," Johnson said.

It might serve Kerry Wood to give ol' Nolan a ring down in Alvin, Texas. NOW, THE REBUTTAL: Padres general manager Kevin Towers was skewered in the press, right here included, for acquiring Toronto closer Randy Myers when he already had Trevor Hoffman. Now, Towers is angrily denying reports that he claimed Myers and his big contract off waivers merely to block the Braves, a potential playoff foe, from getting him.

"That's totally false," Towers said. "You don't ever take $12 million gambles. I'm not that stupid. It's nuts. I could see blocking minimum-salary guys. But that's high- stakes poker, to put a claim in and not want a player.

"We've been looking for a left- hander to help get us to the World Series, and we think Myers might be the difference," he said. MISCELLANY: A $3.2 million contract extension for Phillies first baseman Rico Brogna sounds like a lot until you see him play, offensively and defensively. . . . Kudos to Colorado's Larry Walker, the NL MVP last year, who is not asking the Rockies to renegotiate a long-term contract that will pay him $5 million next year, or about half his market value.